High School Students Get Initiative to Stay in School

The goal is to keep students interested in school so that they stay in school.

Cairo High School has teamed up with Southwest Georgia Technical College to give students options after high school.

The "Stay in School" campaign focuses on eighth, ninth and tenth graders teaching them to set goals.

Missy Stanaland of Southwest Georgia Technical College says, "It's giving them options and different careers that they may not even know of and that way we can make them more aware and to enable them to focus on that and to achieve that goal."

For the students in the program, it's a chance to start thinking about life after high school.

Jessica Battle, a ninth grader, says, "It helps us understand that people care about us and that they want us to succeed in life and get good jobs and go to college."

Cairo High School Principal Tim Helms says the program not only encourages students to stay in school, but it also teaches them that a higher education is within their reach.

"My parents didn't do it. My grandparents didn't do it, so therefore I can't do it. So we want to break that train of thought and we really want to beat the odds."

The hope is that in four years all 428 freshmen at Cairo High will walk across the stage, receive a high school diploma and pursue a higher education.

The students in the "Stay in School Program" at Cairo High will be taking a career placement class and a finances class to get more "real world" knowledge before graduation.

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